Billie Jo (22 page)

Michelle Keane had never been one for arriving early at
parties. She generally preferred to make a grand entrance
when the night was already in full swing. Eleven o'clock
was a bit late even by her standards, but knowing the
party would probably go on for half of the night, Michelle
guessed that she'd missed very little. Dragging an unenthusiastic
Hazel into the hall, Chelle spotted Jimmy the
Fish and immediately made a beeline for him.

'Michelle, Hazel, I'm so glad that you could make it.'
Jimmy handed them both a glass of champagne. 'The
bar's free, ladies, so just help yourselves. There's a load
of seafood and a buffet over there in the corner and the
karaoke will be starting shortly.'

Chelle knocked back her glass of champagne and
quickly snatched another off a tray. 'Cheers, Jim. Where's
Danny?'

Greedy fat fucker, Jimmy thought inwardly as he
watched Michelle slinging champagne down her neck, as
if it was water. Jimmy remembered Michelle from years
ago when she'd first hooked up with Terry. He'd never
really had a great deal of time for her and had only invited
her tonight because he knew that she had been quite good
to Danny.

'I'm not sure where he is.' Craning his neck, Jimmy
spotted Danny chatting to a couple of geezers over by the
stage. 'Oh yes, there he is, Chelle, over there, by the disc
jockey.'

Danny stood by the stage chatting to a couple of old
pals, but his attention was firmly focused on his son.
Since he'd come out of nick, the child had behaved
distantly towards him. At first, Danny hadn't taken much
notice but watching Jamie swinging DJ about on the dance
floor, he'd fathomed out the problem. He'd enlisted Jamie
to keep an eye on the boy, not take over the role of his
fucking father. Well, tomorrow he'd have a quiet word
with him, tell him to keep a wide berth for a bit, until
DJ got used to having his real daddy around again. Lost
in his thoughts, Danny didn't notice Chelle approaching.

'Danny,' Chelle said, throwing her arms around him.

'Fuck,' Danny muttered to himself. He thought the
world of Chelle, but he could have done without her
turning up tonight. He'd certainly have some explaining
to do to Billie Jo, as he had never told her that he'd
become good friends with her mother. Luckily, he was a
bloody good liar. He just hoped that he would be able to
bluff his way out of this one.

'Do us a favour, Chelle, Billie Jo's over there with the
little 'un. If you talk to her, don't put your foot in it
about our friendship and me coming round and all that,
will ya?'

'Don't worry.' Chelle gave a hearty laugh. 'I won't get
you into trouble.'

'Cheers, Chelle. I'll catch up with you later.'

Heading off to the bar, Danny decided he was now
going to get well and truly drunk. What had started off
as a fantastic evening was now turning into the night from
fucking hell. What with his mother turning up and then
Michelle. Fuck knows who'd invited them. Anyone would
think some bastard had it in for him.

Chelle turned to Hazel with a twisted expression firmly
in place.

'Who does he think he is, eh? I've been bloody good
to that boy and he can't even be bothered to stand and
talk to me for five minutes.'

Not wanting any grief, Hazel tried to lift Chelle's mood.

'He was ever so pleased to see you, Chelle. He can't
stand in one spot all night, can he? It's his party, he has
to mix.'

Grabbing another champagne off the tray, Chelle
glanced at Hazel.

'Fucking fuming, I am. All he's worried about is Billie
Jo finding out about our friendship. In other words, Danny
thinks my daughter is more important than I am.'

Hazel sighed. There was no point trying to reason with
Chelle when she was in one of her drunken strops.

'How's my two favourite girls?' Danny said, grinning
at his mother and Billie Jo. Nailing a false smile onto
her face, Billie grinned back.

'We're fine, thank you, having a good old girlie chat,
as you do.'

Arsehole, Billie thought inwardly. She felt like punching
the bastard's lights out, but decided to stick to her plan.

Danny looked around drunkenly. 'Where's my boy,
Billie?'

'Jamie has taken him to the toilet.'

Danny was fuming. DJ was
his
son. He should be
taking him to the toilet, not fucking Jamie. 'What time
you gonna take him home, Bill?'

Billie took a sip of her drink. 'I'm not. If you're worried
about him, you take him home, Dan. It's ages since I've
been out and tonight I'm determined to enjoy myself.'

Danny jokingly crossed his fingers. 'Sorry. Are you
pissed off 'cause your mum's here?'

'My mum's here?' Billie exclaimed. 'Where is she?
What's she doing here?'

Danny held his hands out innocently. 'Dunno, but
someone must've invited her.'

'Wonderful,' Billie said, as she turned her back on him
to speak to Brenda. Danny took the hint and wandered
off. He could tell Billie had a face on and decided to have
a couple of lines in the toilet to sober himself up, just in
case it all went off.

'I'm just gonna pop outside a minute, Brenda, get a
breath of fresh air. I'll be back in a sec.' Billie walked
out of the smoky, packed hall and gulped in deep breaths
of clean fresh air. Although she'd had a lot to drink, the
conversation she'd overheard in the toilet earlier had
sobered her up and she now felt more merry than drunk.

Walking around the front of the pub, Billie's curiosity
got the better of her. Unable to stop herself, she peered
through the window in search of the voice from the toilet.
The pub was almost empty now. There were a couple of
old boys sitting at the bar and a crowd of young lads in
the corner. Scanning the joint, Billie guessed immediately
that the blonde girl who was wiping a couple of tables
was the owner of the voice she'd heard earlier. Young, tarty
and common-looking, Billie thought to herself, as she
watched the girl leaning over the table, giving everyone
an eyeful of what she'd had for dinner earlier. Ducking
out of the way as she noticed one of the old boys about
to leave the premises, Billie decided to play detective.

Charlie Chambers downed the remains of his pint, said
goodbye to his mate Sid and started his short walk towards
home. 'You all right, love? Are you at the party out the
back?' he asked Billie Jo.

'No, I've come to meet my mate Debbie. Is she still
working?' Billie lied.

Charlie smiled. 'The door's open, love. She's just
wiping the tables. Don't stand out here on your own, go
inside and wait for her.'

Billie thanked him, waited until he was out of sight
and went back into the hall. Noticing her mother and
Hazel prancing about on the stage trying to sing Abba's
'Waterloo', Billie walked around the edge to avoid being
seen by them.

Brenda smiled as Billie returned to the table. 'Ah, there
you are. Jamie bought DJ back, he's asleep on that chair.
Now you're back I'm gonna check on my brood and go
to the loo.'

Meanwhile, from the stage, Michelle had noticed Billie
standing alone. Having never seen her grandson before,
the temptation proved too much for his drunken gran to
resist. Billie was too busy watching Jamie practising
moves on the dance floor to notice her mother staggering
towards her.

'Well, well, well. If it ain't my precious daughter.'

Noting the sarcasm in her voice, Billie knew that her
mother was spoiling for an argument.

'Look, Mum. I don't want no trouble, so unless you've
got something nice to say to me, I suggest that you leave
me alone.'

Chelle swayed drunkenly, with hands on hips.

'Hark at you, little Miss Sensible. I wanna meet my
grandson. Where is he?'

Billie looked at her mother in horror. There was no
way on earth that she was letting her mother anywhere
near her precious boy. 'He's asleep, Mum. Anyway, you're
drunk. The last thing I want is for my son to realise he's
related to Nanny Lush.'

'You cheeky little cow. How dare you speak to me like
that? You're just like your father, Billie. He was one cocky
arsehole, and you, you've fucking turned into him. Hateful
you are, just like he was.'

Billie could feel herself shaking, but was determined
to stand her ground.

'The feeling's mutual, Mum. Now, fuck off and leave
me alone. I don't know what you're doing here, anyway.
Who invited you? Or did you just gatecrash?'

Michelle was fuming. She couldn't believe the change
in Billie Jo. Determined not to let her daughter get the better
of her, she decided it was time to play her trump card.

'Who do you think you are? Getting on your fucking
high horse. I'll tell you why I was invited, shall I?
Unbeknown to you, you silly little mare, me and your
Danny are best buddies. Days, he's spent round mine, on
the piss, and believe me he did nothing but slag you off.
He's with you for one reason and one reason only, Billie,
and that's because you've got his bloody kid. Same reason
why your father was with me. So don't you ever think
you're any better than me, girl, 'cause you ain't. In fact,
you've turned into me.'

Lifting her right hand, Billie smacked her mother as
hard around the face as she could manage.

Hazel, who had been chatting to Brenda whilst closely
watching the situation, decided it was now time to step in.

'Come on, Chelle, leave it,' she urged her friend.
Ignoring Hazel's advice, Michelle grabbed Billie by the
hair and pulled her onto the floor.

Jimmy the Fish, who happened to be standing nearby,
quickly waded in to stop the fracas. Grabbing hold of
Michelle, he marched her over towards the stage. Brenda
took care of Billie Jo. Sitting her down on a chair, she
hugged her tightly.

'Ssh. Stop crying, Billie. Your mum's gone now, love.'

Danny, now back from snorting gear in the toilets, felt
like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

'What happened?' he asked Jimmy. Explaining the situation,
Jimmy urged Danny to get rid of Chelle, and fast.

'You're gonna have to go, girls,' Danny said apologetically
to Hazel. He decided to address the friend, as a
drunken Michelle wasn't the easiest person to reason with.

'Bollocks. I ain't going nowhere. Why should I be the
one to have to leave? She started it,' Chelle screamed.

Danny shrugged his shoulders. 'It's nothing to do with
me, it's Jimmy's orders, Chelle.'

'But it's your party, Dan. You've been like a son to me.
I ain't going nowhere.'

Hazel, being much more astute than Michelle, noticed
a couple of Jimmy's henchmen getting ready to eject them.
'Come on, Chelle, we're leaving now.'

Hazel was fuming by the night's events. She hadn't
wanted to come to this shithole in the first place. Finally,
after a struggle, she managed to drag Chelle out. Bundling
her into the car, Hazel locked the doors and drove off at
speed.

Danny walked over to Billie Jo. 'All right, babe? I
chucked your mother out. Are you OK?'

Billie was seething. 'No, I'm not OK. I can't believe
that you sat round my mother's house, slagging me off
behind my back.'

It was a good job that Michelle had left, because Danny
would have personally throttled her.

'It weren't like that, Bill. I just spoke to her a couple
of times when we were going through a bit of a rough
patch. I only went round there once or twice, honest I
did. Look, let's not have an argument here. I've got rid
of her. We'll talk about it tomorrow, OK?'

'Fuck you,' Billie said, before storming back to
Brenda. She was desperate for someone to confide in.
The drink had loosened her tongue and she needed to
spill her guts to whoever was willing to listen. Distraught,
Billie told Brenda absolutely everything. The rape,
Danny betraying her with her own mother, she even told
her about the affair she'd found out about earlier in the
toilet. The disco was so loud that Brenda couldn't hear
Billie properly, but she certainly got the gist of what she
was saying. Her heart went out to the girl that was sitting
beside her.

'There's no going back after tonight, Brenda,' Billie
sobbed. 'I've had a gutful and I'm definitely finishing
with him for good.'

Brenda looked at the pretty young thing and could have
cried for her. 'Can I still see you and my grandson?'

'Of course you can,' Billie said, meaning it.

Brenda felt a sudden hatred for the eldest son who
she'd always idolised and stuck up for. 'Here's my phone
number,' she said, pressing a bit of paper into Billie's
hand. 'Ring me in the week and we'll meet up. If you
need anything at all, don't hesitate to call.'

Billie took the number and tucked it safely into her
purse. 'Thanks, Brenda.'

Brenda kissed Billie on the cheek. 'I'm gonna go now,
lovey. There's a cab firm up the road. I'll take a walk up
there. The kids are playing up now and I'd best get them
out of here before they wreck the joint.'
Billie waved goodbye and sat alone at the table,
stroking DJ's head. Her son was sleeping peacefully on
the chair, unaware of his mother's predicament. Billie
had had a bastard night and wanted nothing more than
to go home, but she was determined to hang the evening
out, at least until the old slapper from behind the bar
arrived and she had a chance to shoot Danny down in
flames.

'You all right, Billie?' Jamie said, sitting down next to
her. 'I'd have come over earlier, but you were deep in
conversation with Danny's mum and I didn't want to interrupt.
What happened with your mum?'

Glancing at him sideways, Billie let out a deep sigh.
'It's a long story. I'll tell you another time, eh?'

Jamie could tell that she was putting on a brave face,
but underneath was upset. 'Look, Bill, Lucy's tired so
I'm gonna take her home. I'll be about half an hour. Stay
put and I'll come back for you. Then, when you're ready,
I'll take you and DJ home in a cab.'